The new application will also be injected with new points of interests and new labels to make places such as airports, parks, train stations, bus stops, highways, and freeways easier to find, the sources added. Sources also say that the mapping application’s cartography design has been tweaked to be slightly cleaner and to make streets more visible.

In addition to the mapping data changes, Apple will add one of the most important mobile features to Maps this year: public transit directions.

Apple acquired two transit apps last year, Embark and HopStop. It had that team integrate transit information into Maps for release this year. The transit directions will be in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles initially, then roll out further by the end of the year, says Gurman.

A lack of transit directions has been a major weak point for Apple's maps in comparison to Google Maps. For anyone that lives in New York City (or is just visiting) it's pretty much a deal breaker. There's no way Apple maps can be your primary mapping application.